Deborah Lipp

Last time, I introduced the concept of a Cloak of Peace, and suggested that it could be used for a variety of purposes. Today, I’d like to continue that exploration.

Let’s start with a couple of caveats. First, you’re going to be building up the energy and efficacy of this cloak over time, over a number of meditation sessions. So choose one concept that is most meaningful to you; one cloak that will be most useful to you. Think about your day to day life and ask yourself: Where do I get into trouble? Where do I stumble? At what moment do I most need a helping hand? I chose “peace” as the helping hand, but yours may be different.

Second, make sure your color symbolism really works for you. You can research various color systems, or you can work intuitively, but make sure the color clearly conveys the feeling you’re going for. You don’t want to change your mind six months down the road. So think about color before creating the cloak.

Finally, you may find this technique so useful and easy that you decide to have a second cloak, in a very different color (and/or fabric and/or style) for a different purpose. But you want to be very good at having and using the one cloak first, so assume you’re only going to have one, and choose the one you want the most.

Okay, now that’s out of the way. Let’s talk about uses for the cloak.

I went to sleep last night thinking of all the things I want to accomplish, and thought about creating a Cloak of Energy. I often feel lazy, dragged out, unmotivated. My knee hurts, I had a long day, there’s something good on TV. Things don’t get done.

What would a cloak of energy be like? I imagine the color should be red (Mars, strength, aggression, motivation), orange (vitality, success, fire), or yellow (the Sun, achievement, ambition, strength). I would make it of a light fabric, like a silk or a jersey, that moved easily as I moved. Maybe even a short cloak, like a capelet, because that feels like something someone energetic would wear. In creating the meditation, I would focus on feelings of excitement, energy, and motivation, and visualize myself accomplishing small household tasks that require lots of moving around (carrying laundry, cleaning off clutter, that sort of thing).

I originally devised this meditation to help with ADHD. Put on the Cloak of Focus in a classroom to help stay focused. There’s a problem with that though, a Catch-22. When you’re unfocused, it’s hard to do the meditation to create the cloak. So the thing to do is to create the cloak and reinforce it when you’re at your most focused. That way, putting it on later will require less focus.

This is a meditation that creates a post-hypnotic suggestion that can be used to help you with ungoing problems. I am here creating a Cloak of Peace that can help with anxiety, but you can use a Cloak of Calm or Focus to help with hyperactivity or restlessnes, you can use a Cloak of Serenity to deal with mood swings or rage, you can use a Cloak of Contentment to help manage depression.

Ground and center.

Breathe in and feel peace. Suffuse yourself with peace.

Breathe out and release anxiety. Anxiety, worries, and unhappy thoughts rush away from you as air leaves your lungs.

Breathe in: Peace.

Breath out: Release anxiety.

As you begin to feel more and more peaceful, visualize yourself putting on a beautiful cloak. It is a lovely color, a color you associate with peace. (For most people, this is a deep sky blue, but you can choose any color you like.)

You are wearing your cloak, and breathing in peace. Notice how peaceful you feel, while visualizing the cloak as clearly as possible. See its color. Feel the texture of the fabric, and the weight of it on your shoulders. Feel the warmth as it envelopes you.

Your cloak envelopes you in peace.

After doing this meditation several times over a period of days, you can begin to put on the cloak in order to feel more peaceful. Say you’re out in public and feel a lot of anxiety. Visualize putting on the cloak. Or you’re sitting down to take your SATs and waves of anxiety hit you. Visualize putting on the cloak. You can put on the cloak before entering into a situation that you know will make you anxious.

It’s important to occasionally do the full meditation, creating peace, putting on the cloak, and then feeling the peace. Do it once in a while even after the cloak is working on its own, to reinforce it.

For several months, we’ve created and worked with a Meditation Room. Let’s revisit what we’ve achieved.

You have a peaceful location where you feel good, and in that location is a cottage containing your Meditation Room. When you created this room, you took the key with you, so you would always have it with you.

In the meditation room is a comfortable place to sit, a closet, and a table or shelf. These allow you to return, be comfortable, and find things you need (including surprises).

Whenever you wish you can revisit this room. Note details of decor, lighting, temperature, and texture. This atmosphere is entirely yours, and feels good to you. You can also go to the peaceful place outdoors that approaches the cottage, you don’t even need to enter, if you don’t feel like it, because this, too, is a great place to meditate.

On our next visit, we spent more time creating a comfortable place to sit. We also found a painting in the closet, and hung it so our gaze could rest upon it as we sat in our comfy space. Whenever you wish, you can return to gazing at the painting. You can also take it down and put it back in the closet, and see if there are other paintings in there to explore.

On the table or shelf is a book labeled “Memories.” Whenever you wish to meditate upon your past, you can use this book as a starting point.

Finally, we found that the back of the cottage is an entirely different place than the front; a different outdoor meditation area. There is a wonderful place to sit out here, and you can meditate here whenever you wish. There are also paths leading off into the unknown from here. This “back yard” is a great place to begin pathworking and journeying meditations.

Other than what we’ve already spelled out, how might you use your meditation room?

You can go to the room, or to either outdoor location (front or back) every time you meditate. For example, when working on your chakras, you might come here first, and visualize yourself doing the chakra work in this location rather than your ordinary world. You might also find it is a place of power. When doing a healing work, or using Reiki, you might visualize yourself standing here to gather your power and your focus.

If your cottage has windows, looking out the windows might lead you to new explorations.

There might be other books besides “Memories” on your table.

And whenever you leave, take your key to assure yourself of privacy and a safe return.

In our Sunday meditations, we almost always mention grounding and centering, and emphasize its importance as the beginning of all meditation.

Today, though, we’re going to use the contrast of grounding into the earth with reaching to the sky to meditate on polarity.

Take a deep breath and let it out.

Again, a deep, deep, lung-expanding breath. Let it out.

Now, feel your breath go all the way down to your hips. Let it out.

Now feel it go all the way to your toes, and let it out.

Visualize the glowing energy of your center, and move that glow down through the lower half of your body, from your middle to the soles of your feet.

Breathing into the glow, feel the energy extend out of your body, down into the earth. If you are standing, you can see the glow coming from the soles of your feet, if you are sitting or lying down, see it coming from the base of your spine. See tendrils of energy reaching out of your body and mingling with the earth.

The rich, moist, cool soil of the earth embraces your tendril of energy.

You are touched by the earth. Mother Earth holds you, and you feel Her love. Allow yourself to know that you are deeply rooted in the earth. Feel Earth energy coming up into your body. Feel rooted and solid and sure.

Now allow the glowing energy of your center to fill the upper part of your body. Breath it out into your arms and hands. Breath it up into your neck and face and head.

Extend the glowing energy that fills you up and out through your crown. Reach past the ceiling and roof if you are indoors, up into the sky. Extend your tendrils past the atmosphere, until you are in the starry blackness of infinite space.

The infinite expanse of the Sky Father embraces you. You are filled with possibility. As you touch the infinite, you know yourself as infinite. You can reach into any adventure, any dream, any choice.

Now notice that the energy from the sky is being fed back into you, coming into your body through your crown, and mingling with your own energy.

Now notice that the energy from the Earth Mother and the Sky Father meet within you. You are Their child and Their meeting place. You are a mixing of possibility and certainty, of solidity and adventure, of infinity and time.

Blessed be.